Can managers represent the interests of the company and owners, as well as the interests of non-management workers?

In terms of management in the United States, there are very few of us who can say how different things are today, when compared to the factory dominated workplace of the 1950’s. One big difference was that management and labor formed partnerships, not relationships.

Back then workers needed to have a level 5 journeyperson competency to work unsupervised. Untrained workers were assigned to train through an apprentice like program. Work could only be performed with the supervision and inspection of a level 5 journeyperson. All workers, including level 5s of a particular skill or function reported to a foreperson, the highest ranking supervisor, not a manager.

Managers never supervise workers; that was totally inappropriate. Managers represented the interests of the company, forepersons or unions represented the interests of non-management labor. Managers provided resources and direction, not instruction. Non-management labor provided skill and experience.

Over the last 50 years, due to the desire to cut costs, junior supervisors, known as leads, and senior supervisors, known as forepersons faded from the workplace and managers began to communicate directly with the level 5 journeypersons. In the 1980’s cost cutting strategies began to replace level 5’s with level 3’s. In time, a position was no longer a place one needed to be qualified to hold; now it was a position one needed to have permission to learn.

Today, managers are still the legal representatives of the company and its owners; which mean the practice of managers representing the interests of non-management labor is a conflict of interests.